Player of the Match
Player of the Match

1.22pm So that's that from the Wellington Test. Plenty for India to introspect over before the next Test gets underway on February 29th. Till then, our match report's on the homepage already, so don't forget to read that and all the other pieces coming from Wellington in the next few hours. Enjoy the start to a brand new week...

Winning captain Kane Williamson: "Outstanding effort over the space of four days. We know how strong India are all around the world. The effort in the first innings and then a competitive total with the bat was great. The lower order runs are important to get a bit of a lead. So allround team effort. Didn't know what to expect from the pitch on the morning of the Test. Because it wasn't as windy this week, there was a bit more swing. The bowlers were brilliant but a real collective effort. Jamieson was brilliant. Through the summer, in white-ball cricket he's been valuable. So great debut for Kyle, contributed in a number of ways. Southee's mindset wasn't of one with a point to prove. He just wanted to lead with the ball. Having Boult at the other end would've been good for him too. Left-arm, right-arm combination can be dangerous. We know India can bat for days, so the patience both of them showed was great. Blundell's injury is alright, he said his pain level is 2/10, so that's fairly good."

Losing captain Virat Kohli: "Toss turned out to be very important. As a batting unit we take pride in being competitive, but we weren't. Even scoring 220-230 would've been good. That first innings put us behind and then the lead put us under more pressure. The bowlers toiled well, as a bowling group we've taken pride in being competitive. Till the first 7 NZ wickets, we were really good. Wanted to restrict the lead to under 100, but the last runs from their batsmen made things difficult. But bowlers can still be more disciplined, they were not as happy with their bowling performance. You don't want to be too hard on guys like Shaw. He's played just 2 overseas Tests. He will figure a way, he will find a way to score runs. Mayank applied himself well, and he's the only other person apart from Rahane who got us any momentum with the bat. Our strength is to put big scores for our bowlers to bowl at, and that was missing in this match."

Tim Southee is the Player of the Match: "very pleasing to beat India. Pleasant change coming back to home conditions. Today morning was massive. We were trying to get a couple of wickets before the new ball. A little less wind around, it tends to swing a bit more. The more you play, you get back into the rhythm. To take 20 wickets as a bowling unit was very pleasant. The pitch had a little bit more there than usual. Tennis-bally bounce."

1.06pm And what a way to claim your 100th Test win?! New Zealand collect 60 World Test Championship points and now have an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series. Dominated right from the first morning and never gave India the window to claw back into the contest. Stick around for the presentation... will be interesting to see what Kohli says

Rajiv Kumar: "Even quality teams can have one bad day in office. But, it is not expected from No. 1 Test team to get dominated by New Zealand (Well played!) on each day of test. Losing is fine but lose like No. 1 Test team in the World!! "

Shihab Aboo: "India didn't lose a single Test match in 2019 and now in the first Test match of 2020 they already have their first loss."

Ray Chaudhuri: "No body is writing off Indian Team. But being the No. 1 Test team to show such pathetic lack of application against a good bowling Kiwi side is disgraceful. The same Kiwis who lost badly to Australia 3-0."

1.4
1
Bumrah to Blundell, 1 run, full, angling in, and flicked to fine leg. New Zealand win by ten wickets!

James McCaghrey: "Man of the match for me is Jamieson, took out Pujara and Kohli to heavily limit India's first Innings, as well as Vihari to stop any middle order resurgence. Then his 44 stomped out a lot of the Indian resistance as their hard work in the final session on day 2 was wasted. "

Dickson: "Agreed with Harshal. This Indian side is very high quality. Our Black Caps have played brilliantly in this test, but if you're writing off your Indian side, you must not be thinking clearly. There is so much class in that side, they'll come back for blood in the second test."

1.3
0
Bumrah to Blundell, no run, good length, outside off, and punched to short cover

Harshal: "What's with people writing off India so easily. Yes, we are having a bad test and that happens. It's a sport - you win some, you lose some. What the hell is overreaction. New Zealand deserve more respect and accolades for their performance. "

1.2
0
Bumrah to Blundell, no run, good length, outside off, and tapped off the back foot to cover
1.1
0
Bumrah to Blundell, no run, good length, outside off, and tapped to point. No chance of a run

Wonder if we'll see Prithvi Shaw or Virat Kohli have a ball? Naw, Bumrah it is

Thomas : "MoM has to be Southee, surely? The only other candidate would be Jamieson but imo 9 wickets trumps 4 wickets and 44 runs...."

END OF OVER:
1 | 8 Runs | NZ: 8/0

  • Tom Blundell1 (2b)
  • Tom Latham7 (4b)
  • Ishant Sharma1-0-8-0
0.6
1
Sharma to Blundell, 1 run, good length on middle, and angling into his pads. Misses the flick, ball hits his pads and rolls away to cover. They scamper across for the leg bye. Scores are tied

Karan Soni: "They are showing Indian team in a huddle. Like for real. Salt on the wounds. I am so so angry not with the players, but with the team management. So relaxed and then our coach Mr. Shastri's bold statements before every away series. Common don't talk the talk, if you can't walk the walk. *ANGRY*"

0.5
0
Sharma to Blundell, no run, full and wide outside off, and he shoulders his arms
0.4
3
Sharma to Latham, 3 runs, full, on middle, and flicked off his pads to the gap near backward square. Bumrah - from fine leg - cuts it off

Swagat: "Who are the candidates for Possible man of the match? Boult or Southee or debutant?"

0.3
0
Sharma to Latham, no run, full outside off, and defended towards cover
0.2
4
Sharma to Latham, FOUR, full outside off, and driven through the covers! NZ need five more to win
0.1
0
Sharma to Latham, no run, full, from around the wicket. Defended

Kohli calls the India fielders into a huddle. Wonder what he's telling the other 10 men. Probably asking the fielders to show high energy. Blundell and Latham walk out